MOSCOW - Revenue from overseas sales of natural gas by Kremlin-controlled Gazprom may plunge more than 70% this year, resulting in budget proceeds from gas exports falling to $6.5 billion from $24 billion in 2022, Reuters calculations show.

Europe used to be Russia's key source of revenue from gas sales, however Moscow's gas exports to the region have significantly diminished due to the political fallout over Ukraine and following last year's blasts at Nord Stream undersea gas pipelines.

It managed to overcome a feared energy crunch in the winter of 2022/2023 due to its efforts to reduce energy consumption and find other suppliers, such as sellers of seaborne liquefied natural gas.

Reuters calculations show that Gazprom's revenues from gas exports may decline to around $22 billion this year from a record $80 billion in 2022 when spot prices in Europe shot up to all-time highs amid tight supplies.

The calculations also showed that Gazprom's gas exports outside former Soviet Union will fall further, to 68 billion cubic metres (bcm) this year from 100.9 bcm in 2022, when they had already almost halved.

Finance ministry expects that budget revenue from gas exports will be little changed, at around 567 billion roubles, in 2024 and might increase to 620-645 billion in 2025-2026.

Gazprom did not reply to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Oksana Kobzeva and Darya Korsunskaya; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by David Evans)